To Know You is to Love You

As always, the King is right.

B.B. King, that is.

In one of his signature songs, B.B. unwittingly makes a radically Gospel-centered connection: "To know you is to love you."

I say radically Gospel-centered because I'm starting to detect in my own heart that I artificially disconnect the concept of knowing a person from that of loving a person.

What has pointed out the artificial disconnect in my heart is a statement in Jeremiah 9:24.

Jeremiah is the weeping prophet, the one charged to deliver horribly sad news of the up-coming capture and slaughter of a people who will utterly reject his prophecy and persecute him all the way until the point when its gates are overrun by its foretold oppressors.

In the midst of this wave of bad news, there comes an incredible "Thus says the Lord."

Thus says the Lord, "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me..."

Knowing a person in the Old Testament was an inseparable concept from that of loving a person.

Three times in Genesis 4 alone, the expression for knowing is used as a figure of speech for sexual intimacy, and when God hears the outcry of his people in Exodus 2, the text says, "God saw the people of Israel--and God knew."

God knew. That is, God cared. We know that he cared because then he acted.

The more I've thought and mulled over the text in Jeremiah, the more I've started to realize how true it is that we can only really love people that we really know.

With respect to our relationship with the Lord, there's no loving Him without knowing Him. Not just knowing things about Him, either, but actually knowing--and caring about--what makes Him tic.

That's why the text in Jeremiah continues like it does:

"but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord."

What makes the Lord tic? In what things does He delight? Well, steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth.

Once we know that He really delights in these things, it becomes a litmus test for us on whether or not we actually love Him. Do we love the things that He loves? Because if not, then we don't love Him.

It takes a miracle of God's grace--God coming down and rescuing us by the death of His Son--to make us care about the things that delight Him. Sheer will-power won't get it done and self-improvement won't go far enough.

That's what I mean by radically Gospel-centered.

And what about this idea of knowing-loving as it relates to our love for others?

Jesus said that the world is going to know who his disciples are because of their love for each other, and we only really love the people who we really know.

That's shocking, I know, but bear with me.

Of course, there's a general love that we can have for everybody in the world--the kind that makes us want to join hands with everyone around the world and sing Kumbaya, but surely that's not what Jesus is calling us to as His disciples.

It's really not a radical call at all to invite you to want to generally love everyone everywhere.

Where the call gets radical is where it relates to people that we actually interact with and don't neccesarily--how should I say this?--like to be around.

A couple of guys that I interact with on a regular basis fit into this category. I feel like, instead of wanting to hold hands and sing Kumbaya with them, I'm constantly holding myself back from decking them (either physically or verbally).

So, what's the call for me, as Jesus' disciple?

It's first, to remember the Gospel. Remember that God knows me, He sees me, and in Christ He approves of me and loves me with a love that defys expression or overstatement.

Then, I'm called to actually care about the dude who I'm trying not to knock out. By actually caring, I mean trying to know him well enough to know what makes him tic.

• Why is he constantly chattering about nothing in particular?
• Why does he return my attempt at a conversation into an opportunity to slam others?
• Why does he go out of his way to be a general bonehead?

As a follower of Jesus, I want to be easily identified by my love. I want to actually care about people. I want to be willing to get uncomfortable and love others with the same type of love that God has shown me in the Cross.

God, give me the stregnth to pursue a knowledge of You that will cause me to delight in what you delight in. Give me the patience to love others with a Gospel-centered love.